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22 unique models in Maranello Museum

THE FERRARIS OF SERGIO PININFARINA

THE FERRARIS OFSERGIO PININFARINA

WHAT

Masterpiece of design and technology

The exhibition opened in Ferrari Museum in Maranello focuses on the years during which Sergio, the son of founder Battista “Pinin” Farina, made a pivotal contribution to the creation of the Prancing Horse’s most famous models. A collaboration that started in 1952 and which represents one of the great icons of the Made in Italy phenomenon.

The exhibitioncomprises 22 models, including one-offs of the likes of the extraordinary Pinin, Ferrari’s only experimentation with a four-door car, and the 330 GTC Speciale once owned by Lilian, Princess de Rethy of Belgium.

Photogallery

THE FERRARIS OFSERGIO PININFARINA

HOW

An exhibition unforgattable

The cars in the exhibition are split between three separate, themed halls which tell the story of Pininfarina’s work on the racing cars, the road cars and some of the experimental models bodied by the Turin coachbuilder. In addition to the cars, many previously unseen exhibits from the Pininfarina family’s private and company collections will also be on display, not least of which is the wooden styling buck of the Modulo concept car.

THE CARS

Pininfarina and the concept cars

P6 (1968)The P in the P6 moniker stands for Prototype, the World Manufacturers’ Championship category which was a source of great success for Ferrari in the 1950s and 60s. One of the most famous of these victories came courtesy of the legendary P3 and P4 at Daytona.

SIGMA GP (1969)Safety was one of Sergio Pininfarina’s favourite subjects and Formula 1 did not escape his attention. The Sigma Grand Prix is the result of research carried out by an international team of experts and incorporates features which, at the time, were considered absolutely cutting-edge but are now standard fare. These included multi-layer fuel tanks and an onboard fire extinguishing system.

MODULO (1970)The Modulo marks the pinnacle of Pininfarina’s obsession with achieving ever-simpler and idealised forms. Little remains of a conventional car or its functionality – even the wheels have almost disappeared under a fairing that actually prevents it making sharp turns. The whole effect is of a spacecraft inspired by the science fiction film 2001 A Space Odyssey.

PININ (1980)Pininfarina decided to create a genuinely different Ferrari to celebrate its 50th anniversary: a four-door saloon powered by a V12 engine. This was a wholly unexpected and unprecedented concept because Prancing Horse cars had always and only ever had two doors. The design itself was flawlessly sober with certain signature elements introduced that would become popular only many years later, including the famous single-frame front grille, flush glass windows and a sleekly tapered tail section.

MYTHOS (1989)Luca di Montezemolo’s mission to ensure Ferrari’s successful transition into the new millennium via new technologies and forms was hinted at in this concept car which is both a return and an homage to the radical excesses of the most prolific era of Italian design. In fact, it became something of a manifesto for the Ferraris of the next decade.

Pininfarina and racing

250 MM (1953)After its debut, the MM version of the 250 became something of a racing star but was followed by the 250 GT Berlinetta (Tour de France), the 250 GT Berlinetta passo corto, or short wheelbase as it is now generally known, the GTO and, last but not least, the LM and the P. Its compact lines exude a sense of perfect harmony and, like all the cars of its day, it was designed solely with performance in mind.

375 MM SPIDER (1953)The aggressive yet elegant 375 MM is basically a racing car that’s as good-looking as any show car. Its sleek bonnet seems to go on forever and its air-intake is set like a diamond between the two bumpers, while the lines of the flanks flow back to form a kind of a wasp waist in front of the rear wheels. All of the car’s many elements meld effortlessly in a wonderfully dynamic, flawlessly executed design.

500 MONDIAL BERLINETTA (1954)Compact and functional, it is a genuine racer with no concessions to superfluous bells and whistles. The proportions and treatment of the cabin and the flanks also introduced themes that would be fully developed in the models that followed.

250 GT BERLINETTA (SWB, 1959)Perfectly proportioned with simple yet powerful surfaces and pared-down decorative touches: a timelessly beautiful car. Sergio Pininfarina wanted an example for his company’s collection but the one seen here was raced by Stirling Moss in the famous Tourist Trophy.

250 LM (1963)Designed to take the place of the much celebrated and hugely successful 250 GTO in competition, the LM was the model that saw the Ferrari engine shift from front to mid-rear position. Its forms were dictated by aerodynamic necessities. The result is truly original with a rather high greenhouse pushed forward on the body by the rear-mounted engine. A profiled bonnet with faired-in headlamps and a Kamm tail with a full-width spoiler also improved aerodynamic efficiency.

512 BB LM (1979)The 512 BB LM, in fact, was a constant presence in the toughest endurance races at the end of the 1970s. In this particular case, however, Pininfarina wasn’t so much the bodywork designer as an aerodynamics expert as it opened the first full-size wind tunnel in Italy in 1972.

Pininfarina and the grand tourers

275 GTB4 (1964)A high performance berlinetta built for the road, the 275 GTB is one of the most iconic Ferraris of all time and a huge favourite with enthusiasts and collectors alike. Its design, which was quite conservative for the day, really has become a timeless classic because of its perfect proportions and brilliantly fluid surfaces. Its engine capacity, referred to in the 275 of its name, was 3,300 cc. The model on show here is the 1966 GTB4 version.

DINO 206 GT (1967)Ferrari opened its arms to the rear-mounted engine under the Dino name which used engines of under 12-cylinders. This meant that Pininfarina could finally pour all of the research he had done with the 1965 prototype into a production car, adapting the front end to road use whilst remaining true to his original ideas: pronounced wings, dihedral flanks with a long air-intake scoop, concave back screen and perfect Kamm tail.

330 GTC COUPE’ SPECIALE (1967)The 330 GTC exudes a sophisticated, minimalist elegance and, as a result, was one of Sergio Pininfarina’s personal favourites. The version exhibited here is a unique example with a completely separate stylistic language which offers a twist on several themes broached by the Dino on front-engined running gear: the ovoid radiator grille on the nose, unapologetic dihedral along the flank and, most of all, the concave curved rear screen.

365 GTS4 DAYTONA SPIDER(1969)The Daytona brought a new formal language to classic front-engined architecture, a language that was the direct result of experimentation done with the show prototypes. It featured tighter and more integrated surfaces that were less concave, while the headlamps are more characterful and the front grille subtler and more slender. The spider version is particularly rare and sought-after.

BB BERLINETTA BOXER (1971)When it came to designing the first mid-engined Ferrari 12-cylinder, Pininfarina remained faithful to his philosophy of creating exquisite balance and simplicity, and, rather than taking his inspiration from the more radical prototypes he’d developed in previous years, created a road-going version of the P6. The model seen here is the first prototype which was built in 1971. Production would only begin two years later on what became officially known as the 365 GT4 BB.

TESTAROSSA (1984)The Testarossa is one of the most extrovert Ferraris ever built and was created specifically to be gloriously eye-catching, brilliantly interpreting the spirit of the 1980s. It featured stacked volumes, very broad tail section, large straked air-intakes on its sides, a grille integrated into the front bumper and horizontally-slatted louvers hiding the rectangular tail lights. These new styling cues only served to underscore the car’s powerful presence.

456 GT (1992)Aggressive yet sublimely elegant, the 456 GT cleverly hid seating for four beneath a sports berlinetta exterior. Its harmonious design cherry-picked inspirations from everything from the Mythos concept car to the legendary Daytona, but was a seamless blend of past and future, making it an instant classic perfectly in line with Sergio Pininfarina’s purist aesthetic philosophy. The model shown in this exhibition is the modified (M) version from 1998.

550 BARCHETTA PININFARINA (2000)The 12-cylinder engine returned to its classic front-mounted position in Ferrari’s most powerful production car, the 550 Maranello, which boasted the seductive proportions of the 275 GTB with an extra whiff of the track in this barchetta with its pronounced roll-over hoops. An imposing bonnet with an attractive grille, pulled-back cockpit and powerfully dynamic wings all hark back to the blisteringly fast sports cars of the past.

360 BARCHETTA LDM (2000)The car on show in this exhibition is a unique barchetta take on the 360 Spider commissioned Giovanni Agnelli as a wedding gift for Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo. The 360 Modena itself had hailed a major turning point in terms of innovation, design and technology. For the first time, the classic Ferrari front grille was replaced by two intakes reminiscent of those sported by the F1 car from 1961.

ENZO (2002)When it came to designing its new generation super car, Maranello turned for inspiration to the Formula 1 single-seater in which Michael Schumacher was clocking up an astonishing string of victories.

Decisive, geometric forms, air vents on the front bonnet that create a tapering nose section that closely resembles the single-seater – all these elements set the Enzo apart from the sinuously flowing lines of the other Ferraris.

SA Aperta (2010)The 599 GTB Fiorano was the last Ferrari design that was supervised from start to finish by Sergio Pininfarina. His experience and taste added an inimitable touch of elegance to a deliberately aggressive and extreme design.

Ferrari created this particular SA Aperta special series model with barchetta bodywork as an homage to Sergio and Andrea Pininfarina.

THE FERRARIS OFSERGIO PININFARINA

WHO

A partnership that has lasted 60 years

“This exhibition is the best way to honor my Father and confirm the role of Pininfarina as a bearer of aesthetic values of Italian design all over the world. The dialectic exchange between Ferrari and a design house such as Pininfarina, today the only independent Italian coachbuilder, has helped to define the most beautiful cars of all times in an evolution that has lasted 60 years and is still going on. The masterpieces on display in Maranello are already part of the history, but it’s in the cars of recent years that you find the expression of the consistency and continuity that result in the design of the current range and in our ongoing daily commitment to support the development of future products”.